Ş Bulletin de la Société géographique de Liège, 29, 1993, 97-104. Crisite - a new minerai species found in the Bolhac cave (Pådurea Craiului mountains, Romana) Lucre ţ ia GHERGARI & Bogdan P. ONAC Abstract A white, sometimes yellow-brownish, gelatinous sediment found in the Bolhac cave was studied in laboratory (microscopy, chemical composition, X-ray analysis, IR spectroscopy, therm o-analysis). It is a new amorphous minerai assigned to the group of hydrated aluminium sulphate-silicates and should be called "crisite". Résumé Dans la grotte de Bolhac, on a trouvé un sédiment gélatineux de couleur blanche, parfois jaune-brunâtre. Divers échantillons en ont été observés en laboratoire. La microscopie, l'analyse chimique, la diffractométrie, le spectre infra-rouge et la thermo-analyse suggèrent qu'il s'agit d'un minéral nouveau, amorphe, du groupe des silicates-sulfates hydratés d'aluminium. Il devrait être appelé "crisite". I. GENERAL DATA The Bolhac cave is located in the northern part of the P å durea Craiului mountains, 2.5 km upstream from uncuiu . The entrance, situated only 1 m above the level of şCri ul Repede River, is an impressive arcade of 33 x 20 m, ş opening in the left bank of the river, at the altitude of 307 m. The cave is cut in marblish white Ladinian limestone (Fig. 1). The limestone is unconformably and transgressively overlain by Liassic sandstone and quartzitic microconglomerates within which lensshaped kaolinitic clays, sometimes associated with pyrite and marcasite, are to be found. H. MORPHOGENETIC OUTLINE OF THE CAVE V Å LEN Ş & The Bolhac cave has a length of 554 m (V IURKIEWICZ, 1981) out of which 320.5 m belong to the main passage (Fig. 2). There is an underground stream, 195 m long, with no affluents, for which we assume an infiltrational source along the limestone/sandstone boundary. The collecting area is in fact a swamp formed by the waters coming from old mining galleries, in the slope of Grosu hill. The Å Ş pH of these waters is strongly acid (3.3-4.1), uncharacteristic for the karstic sources in the area. Figure 1 : Map of Bolhac cave (simplified after & IURKIEWICZ, 1978-1980) 1 water samples; 2 crisite samples; 3 limestone blocks Téléchargé depuis / Downloaded from www.bsglg.be 98 L. Ghergari & B.P. Onac Figure 2 : a) location of the studied area on the map of Romania b) geological map of the investigated area : 1. limestone (Ladinian) ; 2. sandstone (HettangianSinemurian) ; 3. pyritization ; 4. lapies ; 5. spring; 6. water samples ; 7. Bolhac cave ; 8. Napi ş tileu rave Figure 3 : Cross-section through the main gallery 1. limestone; 2. Sand; 3. blocks; 4. crisite; 5. water; 6. limestone blocks covered by crisite. Crisite - a new minerai species found in the Bolhac cave (Pâdurea Craiului mountains, Romania) 99 For example, the waters of the Napi ş tileu cave (195 m long, with a 71 m long underground stream), located in the close vicinity, have a pH of 6.5. This high acidity is caused by the oxidation of pyrite and marcasite, fairly abundant in the sandstone cut by the stream. river bed white the submerged blocks are covered only with 3-5 mm of the same material. The emerged blocks have also an 1-3 mm thick crust formed by under-water deposition during floods (Fig. 3). The above mentioned moonmilk-type sediment also covers the bed of a 2 m high waterfall. III. DESCRIPTION OF THE GELATINOUS DEPOSIT Detailed observations showed that the sediment is thicker in the lower third of the underground stream and in the arecs with pools; even the pools are close to the sump which makes the source of the subterranean stream. This indicates a transport of the material in suspension during floods, from the upper to the lower, flatter, sections of the cave, and also explains the thicker deposits from the lower third, as well as their presence on the emerged borders of the stream. All along the underground stream bed, covering both sandy alluvia and its limestone borders, a layer of white, sometimes yellow-brownish sediment can be observed (Fig. 3). The material of which the sediment is formed is jellylike in the water, easily dispersing when sampled. The thickness of the sediment is of 1-3 cm on the Figure 4 : Globular cluster of Crisite Figure 5 : Globular cluster of Crisite; goethite 100 L. Ghergari & B.P. Onac IV. LABORATORY DATA The analysis performed on samples collected from varions locations in the cave (Fig. 2) showed the following : A. Microscopy Under polarized light, the material behaves like an isotropic, earthy mass, due to the very small size of granules. TEM (transmission electronic microscope) analysis shows a homogenous mass (more than 90%) made up of agglomerates of tiny spheres, rarely ovoids, with diameters ranging from 0.02 to 0.2 µ m, specific for colomorphous minerals (Fig. 4, 5). Rare (3-5%) xenomorphous equally thick and semitransparent to electron beams lamellae, have also been noticed ; only 2-3% of these lamellae revealed to have a reticular structure when checked bv electron diffraction. The diffraction pattern produced by individual crystals, is characteristic for phylosilicates with pseudohexagonal symmetry (probably illite). Goethite prisms (1 - 2 %) are also present (0.2-1 pm). B. Chemical composition The chemical analysis revealed high contents of Al 203 and notable amounts of S0 3 , Si0 2 and H20+ (as main components of the mineral) and 1( 20, mainly as adsorbing ion. The rest of the oxides are present in negligible amounts, and are considered to corne from impurities (Table 1). The problem arising here is : are the three main components gathered in one compound or in distinct phases? An answer could be provided by microprobe analysis (Fig. 6-8). Table 1 : Chemical composition and thermic behaviour of the crisite. Crisite - a new minerai species found in the Bolhac cave (P ådurea Craiului mountains, Romania) 101 It must be mentioned that the investigated layer is made-up of superposed spherulites, therefore the data obtained can not be rigorously assigned to a unique phase. Silicon distribution in respect to aluminium is relatively uniform, excepting some agglomerates, very poor in aluminium, that we considered to be opal and illite. We estimate opal does not exceed 1-2% in the sample. An argument for the presence of SiO 4-4 in the formula of the minerai is given by the presence of mullite in the sample heated at 1000°C. Although the uniform distribution of sulphur in the "X-ray image" indicates the Jack of correlation between S0 2-4 and A1 3+ ions, we consider that SO 2-4 is actually part of the minerai formula, on the ground of the endotherms at 830°C and 880°C, characteristic of the decomposing of aluminium sulphate. Figure 6 : Electron microprobe analysis. Al repartition The formula of the minerai is : The amount of water lost until 110°C varies according to the dryness of the sample, ranging from 2 to 4 H 20. C. X ray analysis The X-ray analysis (diffractometry) shows the amorphous character of the sample. After heating at 1000°C, we obtained a spectrum characteristic of mullite (Table 2) and probably for i-Al 2O3 (FOSTER, 1959). - D. IR spectroscopy Figure 7 : Electron microprobe analysis. Si repartition The IR spectrum clearly shows the presence of H 20 and OH- . Absorption bands characteristic of S0 2-4 compounds, as well as of Si-O-Al and of Al-OH bands, were also obtained. The line at 1445 cm -1 was assigned to calcite (Fig. 9). E. Thermie analysis The DTA curve shows a double endotherm effect at 100°C, and 200°C respectively, and two close linked endotherms at 830°C and 880°C, followed by the exotherm at 940°C that marks the formation of mullite. The fast two endotherms are the result of water release, the following two ones marking the release of OR, SO 3 and small amounts of CO 2 (Fig. 10). Figure 8 : Electron microprobe analysis. S repartition When testing the pH of the samples collected along the underground Stream (Table 3), a slight neutralization due to the buffer-effect of the limestone was noticed, this parameter varying from 3.8 (at the sump) to 4.6 (at the entrance), favouring thus the precipitation of the Crisite from solution. 102 L. Ghergari & B.P. Onac Table 2 : X-ray diffraction spectrum of crisite, heated at 1000 ° C. Table 3 : Chemical analysis of the water samples from Bolhac cave. Crisite - a new mineral species found in the Bolhac cave (På durea Craiului mountains, Romania) 103 V. CONCLUSIONS The analysis to which the white-yellowish minerai in the Bolhac cave has been subjected, negate the presence of allophane as we first thought. The chemical formula, the thermie analysis, the electron microscopy, microprobe and 1R spectroscopy are pleading for the existence of a new amorphous minerai, assigned to the group of hydrated aluminium sulphate-silicates, which we propose to be called CRISITE ; it derives from the latin naine of the Cri ş ul Repede River - Crisis. The first, and up to now the only, occurrence of this minerai is the Bolhac cave, which opens on the left bank of this river. The crisite sample was deposited at the Mineralogy Museum of the "Babeş-Bolyai" University in Cluj—Napoca, Romania. 104 L. Ghergari & B.P. Onac Adresses des auteurs : Lucreţia Ghergari Université "Babeş-Bolyai" Département de Minéralogie 1, Kogålniceanu str. R-3400 CLUJ-NAPOCA ROUMANIE Bogdan P. Onac Institutul de Speologie "Emil Racovi ţă " Str. Clinicilor, nr. 5 R-3400 CLUJ-NAPOCA ROUMANIE